IRVINE, Calif. – Rhode Island home foreclosure and default filings rose sharply last month both month-over-month and year-over-year, as Massachusetts filings declined, according to the latest data from RealtyTrac Inc. But both states continued to post rates better than the national average.
Last month saw a total of 259,085 reported foreclosure filings nationwide, including loan default notices, foreclosure warnings and actual sales. That represented a 7.12-percent decline from the month before and a 7.32-percent decline from November 2007 – a sharp contrast from October’s month-over-month increase of 5.11 percent and year-over-year rise of 20.9 percent
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In the Ocean State last month, 895 default and foreclosure filings were reported – no notices of default, down from 1 the month before; 454 foreclosure sale notices, nearly 60 percent more than October’s 284; and 441 real estate owned (REO) properties foreclosed or repurchased by the bank, more than twice October’s 197 – for an overall increase of 53.78 percent compared with October and 202.36 percent compared with November 2007.
In Massachusetts, 2,271 foreclosure actions were reported in November – 1,316 default notices, down from October’s 1,577; 414 notices of sales, down from 862; and 541 REOs, down from 1,191 the month before – for an overall decline of 37.44 percent compared with October and 32.35 percent compared with November 2007.
In October, both states had seen total filings decline compared with the month before but rise compared with 12 months earlier: Rhode Island posted a 5.52-percent decline from September but a 60.77 percent increase compared with October 2007, while Massachusetts posted a month-over-month decline of 8.84 percent and year-over-year increase of 25 percent. (READ MORE)
“Foreclosure activity … hit the lowest level we’ve seen since June, thanks in part to recently enacted laws that have extended the foreclosure process in some states, along with more aggressive loan-modification programs and self-imposed holiday foreclosure moratoriums introduced by some lenders,” CEO James J. Saccacio wrote in the company’s November 2008 U.S. Foreclosure Market Report.
But there are “several indications,” he added, “that this lower activity is simply a temporary lull before another foreclosure storm hits in the coming months: Delinquencies on loans not yet in the foreclosure process jumped to nearly 7 percent in the third quarter, a record high, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA),” Saccacio said. (The full report is available at www.MortgageBankers.org.)
“And more than half of the homeowners who received loan modifications to reduce monthly mortgage payments in the first half of 2008 are already delinquent on their loans again, according to the U.S. Office of Thrift Supervision (OTS). Many of these delinquencies could turn into foreclosures next year.”
“We’re going to see a pretty significant storm next year,” Rick Sharga, executive vice president of marketing RealtyTrac, agreed in an interview with Bloomberg News. “There are two or three clouds that suggest a pretty heavy downpour.”
Rhode Island had the nation’s 11th highest rate of foreclosure completions in November, up from 22nd the month before, with one sale for 502 housing units. Massachusetts had the 27th highest rate, down from 21st in October, with one foreclosure sale last month for every 1,193 housing units statewide, the real estate data company said.
But both states still had November rates better than the national average of 1 foreclosure for every 488 households. The highest rate, for the 23rd consecutive month, was in Nevada, which last month had one foreclosure sale for every 76 households.
RealtyTrac Inc. is a publisher of data and advice for real estate markets nationwide. To learn more go to www.RealtyTrac.com or visit the company’s distressed-property blog at www.ForeclosurePulse.com.
The only reason that the most recent data is trending lower than the national average is because CITI (whom services a large percentage of the RI sub-prime mortgage pool, ala Ameriquest buy-out) had no option but to offer token loan modifications to many mortgagees, which crested in September – October.
The modification process includes a 2 month moratorium on payments.
The mortgage mess isn’t over yet. Let’s just throw more money at the banks, so they can continue to put families out on the street.
Citi knew what it was getting into when they bought Ameriquest, it’s disgusting that they are receiving tax payer TARP funds.